Car-Lah Guderian
Car-Lah Elizabeth Blain-Guderian is a female Corsari Generalfeldmarschall. She is the first female to ever hold the rank of Generalfeldmarschall and as such puts her in the immediate inner circle with the Corsari political elite. Car-Lah is known for her steely demeanor during battle and indomitable attitude. This attitude has won her many battles against seemingly superior enemies. Car-Lah is known for being adamantly against Battalion Pushes, something she was able to greatly reduce once she became the Generalfeldmarschall of the Corsari Armed Forces. Car-Lah stands at 5' 11" with a toned frame and steely blue eyes. Her blond hair is cut short and swept behind her left ear. She has no visible physical deformities or scars. She is known to make random visits to battle zones to survey the preparedness and fighting capacity of not only Corsari troops, but allied troops as well and has no problem with calling out the lack of such to allied commanders. Car-Lah is a master of several forms of hand-to-hand combat, including several forms of lethal battle arts. She is an accomplished marksman that scored exceptionally well when she completed the Corsari preparedness courses. Personality Despite her mountain of responsibilities and her military rank, Car-Lah is a pleasant woman when not in uniform. She enjoys long drives and watching sunsets. She owns several vacation homes in various locations including high in the mountains of Bergland, the beaches of Kessad and the forests of the Rheinland. Car-Lah understands the difficulties with leading the military of an entire planet-state so she is also keen to giving her officers more time off than is usual under standard protocol. Car-Lah is often found reading, even while on duty. Car-Lah has an extensive collection of firearms. She is rumored to own and manage a flower shop in her spare time. She has two pet cats and several ferrets. She has one daughter. While on duty, Car-Lah is a very serious and dedicated Commander. She is almost always found receiving constant status updates from field operations so that she may stay at the fore-front of decision making, despite the protests of her senior officers. Allied Commanders know her as being one of the most dependable and threatening battlefield Commanders to ever come from Corsair because of her quick and punishing battlefield tactics which were no doubt picked up from her days as the Commander of Black December. Car-Lah maintains strict military protocol and doesn't have much tolerance for insubordination and the dereliction of proper procedure. Early Life Car-Lah Elizabeth Blain was born in the Eshkat District of Stallsport located on the northern coast of Bergland on April 23rd in the year 2500 of the Galactic Standard calendar. From an early age, Car-Lah always thought that she was going be a woman of the sea as her father was an accomplished sailor. She graduated from the 3rd District Primary School with top marks and perfect attendance as her father would accept nothing less. She attended the 5th District Secondary School and once again achieved top marks and perfect attendance. Car-Lah began to shift toward academics as opposed to her parents original wishes that she become a sailor like her father. Much to their chagrin, Car-Lah continued to pursue academics into her college years. During this time, the conflict with the Corsari Empire and the Empire of Dread began to encroach on the Bergland. This led the city of Stallsport to enact strict curfews and standardize military street patrols as they were a neutral but Corsari backed location. Car-Lah had a shift from academics to active politics as the situation in Stallsport deteriorated. Black December After an accident was turned into a staged attack by the Dread Empire's Blood Knights, large-scale riots and protests broke out in Stallsport which led to many civilian deaths. Through the skillful manipulation of the evidence by Crimson, the Corsari Empire was made out to be the attacker and this intensified the protests creating an extremely hostile environment for any Corsari personnel in the city. Many were hung in retaliation and some were publically beheaded and broadcast across Corsair. This caused a backlash against Stallsport and the Bergland in general which prompted the Corsari Empire to build up forces on the border. Looking for an exit strategy, the governor of Stallsport called on Car-Lah Blain who had led successful incursions into the Corsari embassy with an armed group of protesters. At this point, the Black December movement was formed and eventually it became the de-facto strike force of the Bergland Alliance. Car-Lah co-led the Black December movement with her childhood friend Kris-Tin Sarach. Unbeknownst to the Governor and pretty much everyone who joined the movement, Car-Lah had next to no battle experience and even less experience leading people. What happened at the embassy which sparked the movement was a heat of the moment occurance that couldn't be guaranteed to be replicated. In order to keep the Black December soldiers from scattering or outright defecting, Car-Lah adopted a hard demeanor in order to hide her inexperience. Kris-Tin, being a more solid individual helped manage the operations of Black December. Car-Lah had her first trial by fire at the battle of the Twisted River located at the far eastern city-state of Genda-Marie Sanctum. Here she engaged a force of 150000 Corsari troops backed up by Dragonian artillery. Her force of 10000 was outgunned and outmanned 15 to 1. During the battle, Car-Lah remained calm with the help of Kris-Tin despite the losses she was suffering. The Dragonian artillery continued to bombard the Black December troops until they were relieved by a massive contingent of allied rebel forces from the Sovereignty Front numbering close to 332,000. The Corsari troops were flanked and surrounded along with the Dragonian artillery. Car-Lah won her first major battle with the help of the Sovereignty Front and as a result ended up with 115,000 prisoners and a decent sized cache of highly advanced weapons. After having the appropriate accomodations met by the Governor of Stallsport, she had her first taste of battle politics. Almost immediately after the prisoners were settled in a POW encampment, she was contacted by two of the opposing Commanders, Generalmajor Sabrina Bless and Lieutenant General Serafini Kidder. Sabrina was attempting to secure the release of the Corsari troops while Serafini was attempting to secure the release of the Dragonians. Both were met with denial from Car-Lah but both for different reasons. Car-Lah, months earlier at the beginning of her involvement in the war developed an intensely patriotic vision and denied Sabrina under the pretense that her serving an Empire that would willingly attack a neutral territory and kill civilians didn't deserve the lives of the men she captured and Serafini was denied because Car-Lah believed that the Dragonians had no business in their internal conflicts. She kept from Serafini that she was going to use the Dragonians as a bargaining chip if something went wrong that required an immediate scapegoat. The Schism After her initial victory, Car-Lah had a renewed sense of purpose. She realized that although she needed help from the Sovereignty Front, she could fight the Corsari Empire and the Dragonian forces and survive. The victory also did well for her image back home and recruits started pouring in. Any doubts in Car-Lah's leadership was set aside from that point on. Car-Lah launched many successful attacks on Imperial forces all along the Bergland borders and even at established military positions, liberating both prisoners and higher quality weapons than they were used to fielding themselves including experimental weapons. The biggest advantage she gained however had to be the Dragonian artillery she captured from her first battle. The advantages couldn't have come at a better time as she liberated a large cache of Anti-Aircraft and Anti-Armor weapons that she put to immediate use against the Imperial air forces with devastating results. This would cause the Empire to rethink it's strategy in regards to dealing with the Black December movement. The first cracks in their success began to appear when Car-Lah and Kris-Tin launched an attack beyond the Stallsport Alliances borders and into the neighboring Rheinland in order to assuage a battallion of Rhein Insurgency troops that were being beseiged by Corsari armored divisions. After a fierce battle, Car-Lah's 10000 troops managed to dislodge the Corsari attackers and send them deeper into the Rhein to regroup and count their losses. Shortly thereafter, a gun battle started between the Black December forces and the Rhein Insurgency resulting in the death of 500 insurgents and 238 of Car-Lah's forces. The Blood Knights were quick to intervene in the situation put a halt to the fighting. Upon returning to their own territory, Kris-Tin confronted Car-Lah about the recent fight. She told her that there was a general feeling among the troops that they're not getting enough support during their fights. Car-Lah realized that Kris-Tin was right and that everytime they fight the Empire that none of their allies offer to help. Car-Lah told Kris-Tin that she would look into it. Car-Lah was unable to contact Crimson of the Blood Knights but instead was counciled by one of his Captains. The Captain, who identified himself simply as The Captain informed Car-Lah that the Rhein Insurgency was a loose group of rebel fighters that have nothing to do with the Blood Knights or their fight against the Empire and that they were best to be avoided at all costs. Car-Lah informed the Captain that she was instructed by Crimson just months prior to assist the Rhein Insurgency whenever they needed it. He then told her that she was mistaken and to no longer assist the Insurgents. The Insurgents ended up in another battle this time with the Dragonian Marine Corps and sent out a call for help which Car-Lah ignored. Later, she was rebuked heavily by Crimson himself, who she then told him that someone who identified himself as "The Captain" told her not to assist them anymore. Crimson continued to berate her and informed her that there was no one in the Blood Knights who went by the name "The Captain". He promptly then cut off the communication, sending Car-Lah away in a rage. Kris-Tin counciled Car-Lah and the two attempted to figure out their next move. Eventually, the two came to the conclusion that someone was screwing with them. The following week, the Corsari Empire, determined to re-establish control of Stallsport from the Blood Knights met with Car-Lah's Black December forces. The ensuing battle resulted in the deaths of 7300 Black December troops and only 2230 Imperial forces. It was here that Car-Lah actually feared for her life. When the Imperial forces knocked out the artillery she had stolen and began closing in, the Sovereignty Front came in once again to save her. The Dragonian Army joined the fight and swept aside the Sovereignty Front who then abandoned Black December to its fate. Car-Lah reached out to the Blood Knights for assistance and she was answered by Crimson. Crimson denied her request for help and when she asked why Crimson revealed that he hadn't the faintest clue where she got this idea that the two forces were allies in this war. He explained that there was never any agreement on the Blood Knights part that there would have been mutual co-operation and that the Blood Knights wanted nothing to do with a group of fighters led by a kid who only joined the war in order to feel accomplished. Crimson however decided to let Car-Lah in on his handiwork in order to add insult to injury. He explained to Car-Lah that the attack on Stallsport was his doing. He disguised his troops as the Imperials and slaughtered hundreds of civilians in order to open unrestricted access to Stallsport to aid the war effort. He also told her that since she was not going to survive the battle that he was going to continue to use Stallsport like he intended, even going so far as to saying he would cleanse the city of all those who inhabited it and take control of it himself. This left Car-Lah empty. Everything up until then that she had been fighting for was a lie. Kris-Tin, who overheard the exchange confronted Car-Lah and panicked. They had no idea what to do and the Imperial forces were surely going to kill every last one of them in order to secure the field. Just as all hope seemed lost, Car-Lah remembered that she had 115,000 prisoners stationed in Stallsport. She promptly contacted Generalmajor Sabrina Bless and Lieutenant General Serafini Kidder and told them she was ready to make a deal in exchange for the prisoners she housed. At first, both Commanders denied her attempts to stop the fight stating that they would just rescue them anyway once they were done with the Black December forces to which Car-Lah retorted that if the two Commanders didn't cease fire she would systematically slaughter every prisoner in her possession. Not wanting to risk the deaths of 115,000 of their troops, the two Commanders obliged. Car-Lah met the two commanders face to face at Kessad, well behind Imperial lines where they were going to discuss both the surrender of Black December and the return of the prisoners. At this meeting, Car-Lah produced the recorded meeting between her and Crimson with Crimson stating that the entire attack on Stallsport was a ruse and Car-Lah explained that everything she had done up until then was based on a lie told by the Blood Knights. Car-Lah also stated that she didn't want to surrender, and that she in fact wanted to continue her service under the direction of the Imperial forces. After a long discussion between the three, Car-Lah was detained by General Freed-Rick Selbach until an appropriate decision could be reached. Car-Lah remained under Imperial custody for ten days, all the while Kris-Tin was keeping the remainder of the Black December forces from acting out of aggression for their leader's absence. In the meanwhile. she led several covert attacks against the Blood Knights using special strike teams, weakening their supply lines and damaging their armor forces. Eventually this led to a direct confrontation between the much superior Blood Knights and the Black December armies. During the course of the losing battle, Black December received unexpected help from the Corsari Empire and the Dragonian Marine Corps, pushing back the Blood Knights and saving them once again. Kris-Tin was hailed by the commander of the force that saved Black December and she was caught by utter surprise when she was addressed by Car-Lah Blain. Car-Lah explained that she had accepted an offer to join the Corsari Empire against the Dread Empire and she wanted to assimilate the Black December forces into her now established 1010th Überfallkommando Brigade. Kris-Tin met with Car-Lah personally and told her that she no longer wished to fight in the conflict between the two Empires and that she wanted to return to her family. Car-Lah inquired as to her reasoning and Kris-Tin told her that her original reason for joining the conflict was to make those who attacked Stallsport pay and since she learned of her entire purpose being a lie, she could not sit on the same side of soldiers she killed only weeks before. Car-Lah understood this and as per the rules of war, formally accepted Kris-Tin Sarach's surrender. 63% of the Black December forces returned to their homes, the other 37% joined the Überfallkommando. Establishing Dominance After combining the remainder of Black December with the 1010th, Car-Lah finally had a well-funded and well equipped fighting force. This time however, she had a definite objective in the destruction of the Blood Knights and ultimately the Empire of Dread. She returned to Stallsport with her forces and held council with the governor with which she explained the events that led up to their meeting, including the ruse the Blood Knights executed on their city. After a few days of deliberation with the local government, the governor agreed to ally themselves with the Corsari Empire against the Blood Knights. This was the first step in the loss of the war for the Blood Knights as they were just denied a critical resupply point and MSR. The Blood Knights responded with fury at the allegiance of Stallsport to the Corsari Empire and not to The Dread Empire. The Blood Knights attacked the city, led by none other than the leader of the Empire of Dread, NeoCrimson. Car-Lah met NeoCrimson on the field and a bloody battle for Stallsport commenced. For several weeks, intense fighting in and around the city left the landscape cratered and littered with destroyed vehicles and dead bodies. Meanwhile, the Corsari Empire was underway with evacuating the civilians from the city. The move proved to be the right course of action as the Blood Knights struck the city with a tactical nuclear bomb. The 1010th suffered lower than expected casualties and as such pressed the Blood Knights even harder. After another week of fighting, the 1010th, backed up by the 632nd Tactical Bomber Force broke the back of the Blood Knights offensive causing them to order a full retreat from the Bergland. Car-Lah was commissioned as an Oberstleutnant for her battlefield prowess and her ability to lead large groups of soldiers. While not nearly as big as the Black December movement, the 1010th numbered close to 3500 soldiers designating it a Brigade. After her official promotion, she took the 1010th and pursued the Blood Knights into the neighboring Rheinland. It was here that she engaged the Rhein Insurgency on the battlefield. Led by Luther Markel, the Rhein Insurgency waged a successful guerilla campaign against the 1010th, inflicting a number of losses to the invading force. Eventually, Lieutenant General Serafini Kidder assisted Car-Lah with clearing out the forces in the forests with an orbital bombardment from her commandship, the Dragon's Prayer, killing Luther Markel in the process. Leaderless, the remaining Insurgents fell back deeper into the Rheinland. Car-Lah continued to sweep across the Rheinland and rooting out entrenched Insurgents by orders of Generalmajor Bless. Despite their being enemies over the past 3 years, Bless was able to put her suspicions aside and developed an effective working relationship with Car-Lah who received it well. Category:Corsari Generals Category:Leaders Category:Person of Interest